Hi, I've been lurking and I think I like this forum

Greetings. I am definitely not new to the hobby. I started keeping, breeding, and studying tropical fish in 1967. Actually, the studying came first, as I bought a $3.00 book (HUGE expenditure in those days!) called Innes' 19th edition of Exotic Aquarium Fishes (still have that book). My mother bought me a used 15 gallon tank for Christmas, hoping to divert my attention from an interest in snakes. It worked - too well.

A couple of days later, after we had set it up and put fish in (it was ok, we had a UG filter!), I had a red swordtail female drop fry. From that day forward, I was hooked on breeding fish. I have bred several hundred species, from almost all groups, both common and rare. However, I wanted to be certain what species of fish I was breeding, so I started reading a lot of books. I joined the local fish clubs, then a couple of the national specialty groups. Even during my time in the Navy I continued to study fish in my spare time. Since I was stationed in Florida, I also managed to collect a lot of native species. I decided that the best way to learn was to talk to the biggest experts, so I did. I know many of them as friends now, and some are gone.

After I got out of the Navy in 1975 I started taking pictures, as I had purchased a nice camera. Most of the pictures were slides, a habit I got from my father. Then one day, someone said, "hey, you've got a lot of slides of fish, how about doing a program for the club?" So I did, and to my great surprise, they liked it. I haven't done a ton of programs, but I've done them for clubs from Detroit to Minnesota, and once I even did one for the American Livebearer Association convention. This one was my first PowerPoint program, and even the most critical people I know approved. Started shooting digital around the same time, so I have a lot of images on file.

So you are probably wondering, why is this guy on a forum for helping beginners? Simple: I like to help people learn about the aquarium hobby. I have a great deal of knowledge and experience that I hope to place at your disposal. While lurking, I've noticed that most of the small mistakes get addressed by some obviously experienced aquarists; however, when one of these folks make a mistake, usually of a highly technical nature, there is no one to help them. I can't help myself, I have to help.

I've been on forums since the mid 90s, when I joined CompuServe's Fishnet. I even served as a mod for a while, and as assistant Forum Manager when it moved to a web type forum. Then they pulled the rug out from under us, and I was left to wander the various fish forums I could find. I found that Cichlid forums tend to be very active, and draw a lot of would-be experts ("I've been keeping fish for five years, I know everything!":;laughing). However, unless they get excessively belligerent, I can politely show them the error of their ways. Otherwise, I turn them over to the mods.

However, Cichlids are not my be-all, end-all, a blasphemous statement on those forums. I wanted to get back to a general forum, where my extensive knowledge of Characiformes, Cyprinodontiformes, Cypriniformes, and a few other -formes could be put to good use. I like a good argument, I mean, discussion, so long as it stays on subject. Never take them personally, and hope the other person feels the same. I've seen this attitude in the threads here, and I like it.

I don't do Marine. There are too many FW fish left to breed before I go there. I don't want my Face on any Book, I don't tweet, and I never even did myspace, which most of you probably don't remember anyway.

This all probably sounds like a lot of bragging. Maybe it is. Or, like Walter Brennan used to say, "No brag, just fact." (For those not old enough to remember Walter Brennan, :;google). This probably seems rather long winded for an introduction post, but hey, I've been around a long time. I hope we can get along. I will likely post a few threads with some of my fish activity, maybe even link to a YouTube vid or two. As we used to say, "See ya in the funny papers!":;thx

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